5 Things you can Do with your Child’s Birthday Gifts

Another birthday party for your kid means a whole new horde of presents. With the anticipated onslaught of new gear, gadgets, clothes, toys—and, yes, even potentially useless junk—have you ever wondered that perhaps your kid has more than he needs? What have you thought of doing with all those excess gifts?

Rather than keep stock of your child’s unused birthday presents, be creative and purposeful. Consider the following strategies on how to manage the excess birthday gifts your child receives.

1. Replace old items with the new gifts received. In the weeks prior to your child’s birthday, consider doing a purge of your child’s clothes, toys and belongings. Involve them in this task. Explain to them that their birthday is coming up, that they will be getting new things, and that it would be good to make room for these new items. Then, ask them to decide which items they want to keep and which they would like to let go of. Throughout this process, you are teaching them detachment and purposefulness, especially as your child creates a clean slate for the new gifts he will receive.

2. Hold a toy exchange or swap. Has your child received too many toys for his or her own good—or for your in-home storage capacity? Do you have friends with kids who have the same dilemma? Hold a toy exchange or swap! Yes, it could very well be another party!

Send out an invitation to your friends and their children requesting that they bring ten items that they want to exchange with others. Then, hold a simple get-together, displaying the items each of you own on different tables or areas around the party area. During the toy swapping activity, help your kids go around as they “barter” for an exchange of toys. It’s not just an amusing way to purposefully give away toys, you’re also teaching your child negotiation skills!

3. Donate excess gifts to a local church, children’s home, or daycare center. You can use your child’s excess gifts as material for teaching generosity. Organize a day when you and your family can donate the extra gifts to the local church, children’s home, or daycare facility. Explain that the children who will receive these gifts probably have never set foot on a toy store, much less received a real, honest-to-goodness gift.

Help your children decide which gifts they want to give, re-wrap the presents beautifully, and have them write gift cards to the recipients, such as “Here’s a gift from me to you,” or “I hope you’ll like this really cool gift.” Then, organize a trip to the charity facility or center with your child so that he or she can experience turning over the gifts.

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4. Keep the most useful or favorite items received. This is an excellent way to impart purposeful, intentional living values to your child. After the birthday presents have been opened and your child has had time to survey the pickings, do an inventory of the gifts with your child. Then, a few days after the party, ask your child which presents he or she likes the most out of the lot. Limit this to a number, say, five or less. Let your child pick his most favorite items for keeping; help him decide by asking questions such as “Where will you use this?” “Do you have another toy that’s like this?” “Can you think of someone who might like this more than you?” Based on you and your child’s process of elimination, give away the rest of the unused presents according to suggestions 2, 3 and 5 on this article.

5. “Re-gift” purposefully. There’s a huge debate in etiquette circles on the subject of “re-gifting,” or giving as a gift an item which was previously a gift to you. In fact, Harris Interactive, an international custom market and business research firm, surveyed 1,505 adults about re-gifting, and 77 percent of those surveyed admitted that they would re-gift because the item was more suited for another person.

Should you decide to re-gift your child’s unused and unopened birthday gifts, make sure you follow these specific re-gifting rules:

-    Don’t re-use the gift’s original wrappings.
-    Don’t re-gift an item that has been slightly used. Only re-gift brand new gifts.
-    Avoid re-gifting to the family or friends of the person who gave you the gift originally.
-    Only give gifts that are useful and desirable, and which would serve their purpose better as gifts than as extra items in your storage cupboard.
-    Make sure the recipient of the re-gift will enjoy the item. Don’t give something you believe would add extra clutter to the recipient’s life or home.

Instilling a spirit of giving
Remember to communicate an important message to your child throughout these five suggestions: That when he receives gifts, it means he was in the giver’s thoughts. Then, seize the opportunity to impart important values such as empathy, simplicity and generosity in your child by teaching him to give of his blessings to others, especially those less fortunate. Hopefully, these five tips on what to do with the birthday gifts your child receives will help you tackle the dilemma of excess gift clutter, but more importantly, may help you impart lasting life lessons to your child about gratitude and contentment.  

Photo from sxc.hu